Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is tracking to be another box office disappointment for Disney, with an estimated $60 million domestic opening weekend.
- Indiana Jones 5 has an estimated $60 million domestic opening.
- The film’s reviews are mixed, with criticism for CGI and character focus.
- The film’s weak opening matches the disappointing global opening of The Flash.
- The film’s performance may impact the Indiana Jones game and rumored Disney+ spinoff.
As reviews of the newest (and possibly final) Indiana Jones live action film come in, it’s not looking good for the iconic adventure franchise. Critics and fans have praised Harrison Ford’s performance as Indy, but have also reacted negatively to the obvious and distracting CGI, as well as how the film focuses too much on new character Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge).
Box Office Mojo shared the domestic box office projections for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny for the period of Friday, June 30 to Sunday, July 2, 2023.
Weekend Box Office Estimates: #IndianaJones $60.0M #SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse $11.5M #Elemental $11.3M https://t.co/iks1w0oOAT pic.twitter.com/wB7Db9GKvo
— Box Office Mojo (@boxofficemojo) July 2, 2023
The film opened in 4,600 theaters in the United States and the 3-day opening box office is estimated to take in $60 million. Adding the international box office gross of around $70 million, the final Indiana Jones film headlined by Harrison Ford tops out at $130 million. The United Kingdom opening weekend box office gross tracks the highest at $8.9 million, with France coming in second at $5.9 million, and Germany at third with $4.1 million.
Other than Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse continues to show strong legs with $11.5 million added to its total box office haul. At third place on this weekend’s box office is Pixar and Disney’s Elemental, which made $11.3 million with its third weekend box office gross.
With Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’s less-than-stellar box office gross, it virtually matches the disappointing global opening weekend of The Flash, which opened at $55 million at the domestic box office and $75 million internationally. Interestingly, both The Flash and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny feature two stars returning to their signature roles that had films in their respective franchises released in 1989.
Michael Keaton first took a bow as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the Tim Burton-directed film that debuted on June 1989. Meanwhile, Harrison Ford had his third outing as Indy alongside Sean Connery as Henry Jones, Sr. in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (released May 1989).
The Indiana Jones franchise was included in Disney’s $4.05 billion purchase of Lucasfilm from George Lucas on October 30, 2012. Other than the Indiana Jones series, the acquisition brought the lucrative sci-fi universe of the Star Wars franchise and the fantasy adventure setting of Willow.
The weak opening weekend box office gross for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny seems to confirm the rumored extreme reactions to the test screenings in late 2022. Speculation arose afterward that reshoots were conducted that changed the ending. But the director, James Mangold, stated that the original script was followed and no alternate ending was filmed.
Could Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny bounce back this coming Fourth of July holiday? It’s possible. While The Flash dropped further by 73% on its second weekend, it did not have the benefit of a national holiday as the fifth Indiana Jones movie will. However, current domestic box office projections have Monday and Tuesday (July 3 to July 4) estimated at $12 million and $10 million, respectively.
Could this below average box office of Indiana Jones 5 have a negative impact on the Indiana Jones game being developed by Bethesda? What about the rumored Disney+ spinoff show?
Indiana Jones and Dial of Destiny stars Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Karen Allen, Mads Mikkelsen, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook, and Olivier Richters.
Directed by James Mangold, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is currently running in theaters worldwide.
